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If you've got a home loan, chances are once a month, you hang on the words of Reserve Bank Chairman Glenn Stevens, with news of a rate hike or cut.

But you can almost be own reserve bank governor and give yourself a rate cut. “The fact is that the banks are lending most of their money these days with packages and the packages are a roll up of your loan, credit card, your transaction amount and a number of other benefits that all wrap in all for one fee”, said Canstar Cannex head of research Steve Mickenbecker.

Steve says chances are most of us with a home loan also have a credit card and a savings account and if you're happy to have them with the same bank, then a banking package is the way to go. “Now the really big benefit, the one that really pays off for you, is you get a discount on your interest rate so if you borrowing over $100,000 your discount on your interest rate might be 0.5 or 0.7 straight off the standard variable”, he said.

And that's better than anything the RBA has been able to achieve lately. On top of that you get a fee-free credit card and a fee-free savings account.

That suits the majority of borrowers but they're not for everyone. “There's a bit of a cut off point for packages, so it might not necessarily be for everybody. If you're really borrowing — a you know just sort of 160, 170,000 –you might have to really think about it and think well is it the right thing to me to go with because the interest rate benefit actually has to absorb the higher fee”, Steve added.

Steve estimates that generally you can save around $2,300 dollars by packaging, compared to signing on for a standard variable loan — and when packaged, the products have all the options — reward points, redraw facilities and offset accounts. “They're great packages. They've got the full range good rates, package fees that are reasonable, the full set of options”, Steve said.

And these are the packages that get the Canstar Cannex five star rating:
 The ANZ Break Free.
 The Commonwealth Bank Wealth Package.
 The St George Bank Advantage Package, and
 NAB Choice package.

“In general, I think anyone that wants a full optioned home loan should be taking a package when its available — the savings are there and there are lots of other benefits in it”, Steve said.

For more information visit the website at: www.canstar.com.au

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